IALA announces 2026 Mentorship Program cohort 

The International Armenian Literary Alliance is pleased to introduce the participants of its sixth annual Mentorship Program — which will run until Aug. 31, 2026 — working on poetry, fiction, nonfiction and literary translation. IALA’s 2026 class of mentees includes Evita Arakelian, Arev Dinkjian, Vika Dzhobadze, Sona Gevorgyan, Tatev Mirzayan, Julie Mitchell, Olivia Mouradian, Barig Nalbantian, Margo Sargsyan, Nazareth Seferian, Nairi Simonyan, Lela Tolajian, Terenig Topjian and Saro Varjabedian. Fourteen published authors have volunteered to serve as mentors for the program. They will provide feedback on their mentees’ writing and meet virtually throughout the program to discuss the writing life, their work and how to navigate the publishing industry. To conclude the program, IALA will host an Emerging Writers Showcase to feature the mentees’ work. IALA’s 2026 mentors are Liana Aghajanian, Tatevik Ayvazyan, Nyri A. Bakkalian, Tamar Marie Boyadjian, Ariel Djanikian, Arminé Iknadossian, Lola Koundakjian, Shahé Mankerian, Micheline Aharonian Marcom, Aline Ohanesian, Jen Siraganian, Nadine Takvorian, Taline Voskeritchian and Taleen Voskuni. The mentees of IALA’s 2026 Mentorship Program Evita Arakelian is a poet whose work has appeared in anthologies such as “Rebirth” (The Selkie) and “Weaving the Light” (Quillkeepers Press), as well as in several literary journals, including Talon Review, Eunoia Press and A New Ulster. Her poem “Child” was shortlisted for the Hemlock Journal Poetry Competition in 2025, and her poem “The Memory of a Star” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net Anthology in 2022. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing and serves as a volunteer reader for Palette Poetry, where her craft essay was published in January 2026. Arev Dinkjian grew up in an Armenian household in Fort Lee, New Jersey. She was always surrounded by art, sourced by her musical father and grandfather and her creative mother, Margo. Arev graduated from Providence College with a degree in elementary and special education and taught fourth grade in the Paterson Public School District for several years before becoming a library assistant. She also dedicated many summers to AYF Camp Haiastan, which she says will always serve as a source of inspiration for her writing. Vika Dzhobadze is a first-generation queer Armenian American and aspiring poet based in Harlem. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in history from North Carolina State University, they came to understand the interconnection between power and poetry. Vika found joy in writing poetry about their upbringing, their family and the Armenian diaspora. Their work has been published in the Armenian Weekly and Split Pomegranate Charity zine. Vika can be found on Instagram at @veekuhives. Sona Gevorgyan lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she is undertaking a one-year voluntary mission and living and working with people with intellectual disabilities. From 2018 to 2023, she worked as a teacher and humanitarian worker in Nagorno-Karabakh. She began her writing career recently and is now preparing to publish her first book of short stories. Her creative interests include documentary photography, meeting people and exploring new environments as an inspiration for her writing. Tatev Mirzayan is a student at UCLA. She has a deep love for literature, how it affects and is affected by the world, with language able to manipulate narratives and create spaces closer to the reality of lived experiences than direct recollections. Julie Mitchell is a writer and comedian in New York by way of New Orleans. Her writing can be found in VICE, McSweeney’s, Paste, “The Best of the Seven Deadly Sins: Comedians and Storytellers Confess,” as well as on Substack, her movie review blog called I Heard the Book Was Better and her diary. Her dreams include finding the perfect mascara and world peace. Olivia Mouradian is a journalist from Michigan. Since graduating from the University of Michigan in 2023, she has held positions in the legal and public radio fields. She has contributed to Azad Archives and CivilNet. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Barig Nalbantian studied English literature and vocal performance at New York University and the Manhattan School of Music. She moved to Germany in 2001 and began writing small ensemble productions, the most recent being a political satire on the reelection of Donald Trump with a humorous analysis by decapitated royal Marie Antoinette. All have been performed in Tübingen, where she is currently a resident with her husband and two children. She is the recipient of two MWK Baden-Württemberg State Grants and one Deutscher Musikrat Federal Grant for the promotion of the arts. Margo Sargsyan is a translator and communication specialist based in Yerevan, Armenia. She works across English, Armenian and Russian, with experience in medical, educational and international contexts since 2020. Her recent focus is on literary translation, particularly contemporary Armenian fiction. She is currently working on translating both a scientific text and a work of fiction, exploring the balance between accuracy and voice. Margo is interested in themes of identity, memory and human experience, and aims to contribute to making Armenian literature more accessible to wider audiences. Nazareth Seferian was born in Canada, grew up in India and moved to Armenia in 1998, where he has been living ever since. His university education was not specific to writing or translation, but his love of books led him to literature. He began literary translations in 2011, and his published works include translations of novels and short stories by Gurgen Khanjyan, Mushegh Galshoyan, Susanna Harutyunyan, Grig, Hovik Afyan, Karine Khodikyan, Aram Pachyan, Arman Aghlamazyan and more. This is his first foray into the world of writing. Nazareth is married and has three children. Nairi Simonyan is a writer based in Los Angeles, California. In 2016, she self-published her first novel, “From Afar.” Since then, she earned her bachelor’s degree in creative writing at California State University, Northridge and her work has appeared multiple times in The Northridge Review. She serves her global Armenian community as the social media marketing coordinator for the International Armenian Literary Alliance. Nairi is also the publishing assistant for Betty Books, an imprint of WTAW Press, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in library and information science at San Jose State University. A lover of magical realism and historical fantasy, she is currently working on her second novel set in Ancient Armenia. Lela Tolajian is a Pushcart-nominated writer, journalist and the founder of the International Coalition Against Modern Slavery. Her fiction and poetry have been published in The Core Review and The Georgetown Anthem. Her nonfiction has been published in Al Jazeera and USA Today. In May, she will graduate from Georgetown University. Terenig Topjian is an Apple Design Award-winning designer and writer based in Los Angeles. With two decades of experience in visual design, interactive narrative and creative direction, he has helped shape story-driven experiences from blockbuster movies to children’s stories. His writing is rooted in a deep interest in imagination, ecology, culture and human possibilities. He is currently working on Rivin and the Dreamweavers’ Secret, the first book in a planned middle-grade fantasy series. For a sneak peek, feel free to visit terenig.com. Saro Varjabedian is a Queens-born writer, filmmaker and writer of Armenian descent. A Columbia MFA graduate, he has built a career as an award-winning director, cinematographer and screenwriter, with work screening internationally and being acquired by major platforms such as HBO and Gravitas Ventures. His feature film “Respite” won Best Director and Best Picture at the 2021 Golden Door International Film Festival. He is the co-host of the podcast “Coffee, Matcha, and Soul” and the author of the hybrid fiction-memoir “Tim and Robot: A Spiritual Agnostic’s Guidance to a Newly Formed Consciousness.” He is working on his first science fiction novel, “Ascension.” The mentors of IALA’s 2026 Mentorship Program Liana Aghajanian is a journalist, editor, and storyteller whose work explores culture, identity, and underreported human experiences. Born in Iran and raised in Los Angeles, she later moved to Detroit after winning a home through the Write A House program for writers and artists. Her work is deeply shaped by migration, place, and community. Her reporting has taken her from religious conversion communities in Berlin to maternal health stories in Mongolia and the only U.S. lab dedicated to investigating crimes against animals in Oregon. Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, BBC, CNN, The Atlantic, The Guardian and Bon Appétit. Through her long-running project “Dining in Diaspora,” she has spent years documenting how immigrant communities shape American culture and everyday life. She is currently developing a narrative cookbook exploring Armenian diaspora cooking, history and identity through recipes and reported essays. Tatevik Ayvazyan is a London-based writer and producer with Rebel Republic Films and the former director of the Armenian Institute. She is the producer of the award-winning poetry film, “Taniel” and is currently adapting Iris Murdoch’s “The Italian Girl.” She’s a board member of the International Armenian Literary Alliance, focusing on translation projects, and of Azad Archives. Nyri A. Bakkalian, Ph.D., is a historian of Japan and an author of transgender cyberpunk that has been categorized as “Armenian Diasporan futurism.” She is the first out Armenian-American lesbian novelist. Her novels include “Grey Dawn: A Tale of Abolition and Union” (2020) and “Confluence: A Person-Shaped Story” (2022). Her byline has appeared at Unseen Japan, Metropolis Japan, Gutsy Broads, Nursing Clio and Fountain Magazine. She hosts the podcast “Friday Night History.” A third-culture kid by international upbringing, she now reluctantly calls Pittsburgh home. Tamar Marie Boyadjian, Ph.D., is a professor, author, Western Armenian poet, editor, translator and medievalist. She is the first U.S. born author to publish a book of poetry in Western Armenian: ինչ որ է ան է (Yerevan: Andares, 2015). She is also the first writer of Western Armenian to produce a fantasy series in the language (Arpi Publishing, 2024). She is currently the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies. She has also served as the main editor of two out of three extant volumes of contemporary Armenian literature in translation into English: “makukachu” (Ingnakir, 2017) and “unscripted: An Armenian Palimpsest” [Absinthe: World Literature in Translation] (University of Michigan Press, 2017). She was the recipient of the Sona Aroyan Book Prize for her monograph, “The City Lament: Jerusalem Across the Medieval Mediterranean” (Cornell University Press, 2018). Her forthcoming book is titled “drop of woman: unnamed, unwritten.” She currently teaches Western Armenian courses at Stanford University. Ariel Djanikian is the author of two novels, “The Prospectors” (William Morrow, 2023), selected for the Barnes & Noble Book Club and “The Office of Mercy” (Viking, 2013). She attended the University of Pennsylvania and the MFA program at the University of Michigan. She is the previous recipient of a Fulbright grant, Meijer Fellowship, Cowden Award and Hopwood Award, and her writing has appeared in Tin House, Alaska Quarterly Review, Glimmer Train, The Millions and The Rumpus. Born in Philadelphia, she currently lives near Washington, D.C., where she teaches creative writing at Georgetown University. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Arminé Iknadossian’s family fled to California when she was 4 years old to escape the civil war. After graduating from UCLA, Iknadossian earned an MFA in creative writing at Antioch University. The author of “All That Wasted Fruit” (Main Street Rag Press), Iknadossian’s work is included in XLA Anthology, Ruminate, Five South, Whale Road Review, Southern Florida Poetry Journal, MacQueen’s Quarterly and The American Journal of Poetry. She recently received a Professional Artists Grant from the Arts Council of Long Beach. She has also received fellowships from Idyllwild Arts, The Los Angeles Writing Project and Otis College of Art and Design. Arminé is on the advisory board of the International Armenian Literary Alliance and is also one of the Tlaquilx poets for Project 1521. Lola Koundakjian is a writer, editor and translator who honed her skills at the Ararat Literary Quarterly. She runs the Dead Armenian Poet’s Society and the online Armenian Poetry Project. Her book, “The Moon in the Cusp of my Hand,” won the Minas and Kohar Tololyan Prize in Contemporary Literature. Shahé Mankerian is principal of St. Gregory Hovsepian School in Pasadena and director of mentorship at the International Armenian Literary Alliance. A former co-director of the Los Angeles Writing Project, he is the author of “History of Forgetfulness” (2021), a semifinalist for the Khayrallah Prize and finalist for several national poetry awards. He is also the Altadena Poet Laureate for 2026-28. Micheline Aharonian Marcom is the author of eight books, including a trilogy of novels about the Armenian genocide and its aftermath in the 20th century. She has received fellowships and awards from the Lannan Foundation, the Whiting Foundation and the U.S. Artists’ Foundation. She was a finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2022. She is director and professor of creative writing at the University of Virginia. Aline Ohanesian’s debut novel, “Orhan’s Inheritance,” was published by Algonquin Books in 2015. The book was a finalist for the Dayton Peace Prize, the PEN Bellwether Award and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and was shortlisted for the Dublin International Literary Prize. Ohanesian, who is currently working on her second novel, lives and writes in Orange County, California, with her husband and two sons. Jen Siraganian is an Armenian American writer, educator and former poet laureate of Los Gatos, California. Her debut collection, “Everything Has Been Moved, Even the Dead,” won the 2026 Perugia Press Prize and will be released in September. Her work has been a finalist for the Tupelo Press Dorset Prize and The Journal’s Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize and a semifinalist for Persea Books’ Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize, Philip Levine Prize for Poetry and Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry. Her poems have won the New Ohio Review Poetry Prize, The Writing Salon’s Jane Underwood Poetry Prize and have appeared in AGNI, Best New Poets 2016 and 2025, Cincinnati Review, Electric Literature, Poetry Daily, Prairie Schooner and The Rumpus. A former managing director of Litquake: San Francisco’s Literary Festival, she has received funding from the Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Community of Writers and Napa Valley Writers’ Conference. Currently, she is a Lucas Artist Fellow at the Montalvo Arts Center. Nadine Takvorian is an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books and graphic novels. She is a first-generation Armenian American with family roots in Istanbul, Turkey. She has illustrated numerous books in the children’s educational market for such companies as Scholastic, Heinemann, National Geographic Learning, IDEO, Capstone Press, the Boomer Esiason Foundation and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Nadine is a recipient of the Society of Illustrators West Silver Award in the Children’s Market category. She has also exhibited her work at the Society of Illustrators’ “The Original Art” Exhibition in New York in 2002. Her animated short film, “Elegy,” has screened at several film festivals, including Slamdance and won the Special Jury Award for Animation at the SXSW Film Festival in 2004. Her debut YA graphic novel, “Armaveni,” has received four starred reviews from Kirkus, School Library Journal, Foreword and Booklist, and is a Junior Library Guild Gold Star Selection. Taline Voskeritchian was born in Jerusalem, educated in Lebanon, Jordan and the United States. Her prose and co-translations have appeared in The Nation, AGNI Review, Bookforum, Words Without Borders, Journal of Palestine Studies, Solstice Review, The Common, Los Angeles Review of Books, International Poetry Review, New Verse Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Wasafiri (UK), Alik (Iran), Ahegan (Lebanon), Warwick Review (U.K.), among other venues. She is co-producer of “Vahe Oshagan: Between Acts,” a documentary on the modernist Armenian poet Vahé Oshagan, to which she also contributed as poetry translator. She has taught at Boston University, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the American University of Armenia. She has conducted translation workshops at Palestinian universities. Taleen Voskuni is a USA Today bestselling author who grew up in the Bay Area Armenian diaspora. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in English and currently lives in San Francisco, working in tech. Other than a newfound obsession with writing rom-coms, she spends her free time cultivating her kids, her garden and her dark chocolate addiction. Her first novel, “Sorry, Bro” received starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist and was favorably reviewed in The New York Times. “Sorry, Bro” is also the winner of the 2023 Golden Poppy Award for best romance. She is also the author of “Lavash at First Sight” and her most recent bestselling novel, “Our Ex’s Wedding.” The post IALA announces 2026 Mentorship Program cohort  appeared first on The Armenian Weekly.